Master Link:
(1950's and 60's) To Do:
Activity 1 1950's and 1960's: Cultural Changes: The Fifties, by many historians are considered a time of conservative reflection. World War II had ended. Thousands of GI's returned home from overseas. In part due to the GI Bill of Rights, in which the federal government invested millions of dollars towards ex GI's, post-secondary education, college enrollment exploded. Millions of others found jobs in post-war consumer industries. In addition, the Baby Boom helped to fuel a need for new housing and schools. Pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock, published in 1946 "Baby and Child Care.," which advised mothers that if you wanted to raise stable and secure children , then stay at home. TV, film's, books, music along with a host of other organizations and mediums almost conspired in pushing American society towards the right. Cracks emerged, in the almost placid fifties as not all was as complacent as many imagined. The Beats, Rock n' Roll, the Civil Rights Movement, Brown v. Board of Education, Abstract art, literary works, "The Catcher in the Rye" all challenged the myth of Conservatism. All in some manner questioned the absolutism of conservatism.
This crack widened to enormous portions in the American of the Sixties. Women's Rights, Black Power, the more conservative Civil Rights Movement, AIM, Chicano Power, The Silent Spring, Roe. v. Wade, Engles v. Vitale, Miranda v. Arizona, Love-ins, Sit-ins, Be-ins, mixed with the nightly news images from Vietnam, where American soldiers entrenched in a war unclearly focused by all who tool part. Returning vets often arrived, unannounced, unadjusted, and unparaded before an American populace too willing to forget and move on. Each group had their own cause, their own flag, their own need to fill.
Activity 1 Links:
Activity 1 Directions: Read the following three essays essays a a piece:
a. Summarized each document. 1/2 page minimum (15 points)
b. Tell me something interesting or that surprised you concerning the readings 1/2 page minimum (15 points)
Activity 2: Background: Women, Stereotypes and Music. An argument can be made of how artists often reflect the views of a society. One change, or rather a continuance of a theme, I wish you to investigate the changing roll of women in society, between the end of WWII and beginning of the 1970's. One medium you might investigate this topic throuhg, is through the medium of popular music. In fact, even today lyrics in music can often reflect the views of a particular group or individual. How women are portrayed in a society is of interest to historians. Women historically have been denied the right to vote, the right to control many of the decisions that affect their lives and often have been excluded from higher educational venues and in some cases any education at all. Some have argued that gender roles are natural, ordained by God. Others have pointed out that men have made the rules and thus have historically controlled women even to the point, that the images of women in the media, often reflect men's desires rather than the reality of individual involved.
It is this medium by which I wish you to investigate and draw some elementary collusions concerning the changing role or women in society. These views often change with time. Below are two popular songs of their era. Please complete the following:
Activity 2 Links:
Activity 2 Directions: Compare and contrast the following two songs and how women are portrayed within their lyrics. This to consider: (Minimum two pages typed, double spaced) 50 points possible) Note: All essays will be graded according to the Helix Writing and Points Rubrics .
Activity 3: Directions: Women and Music Today:
Activity 4 Background: As we read about in Activity 1, the Fifties were considered a time of conservative reflection. Also, as you investigated in Activities 2 and 3, artists not only can portray different segments of society, they often act as forcasters of changes, yet to come. Music, literature, painters, and poets often predicate this change. One such indicator or link, of things to come, from the Fifties to the Sixties, were the Beats. They were one of the cracks in mold of conformity of the Fifties. Often they rejected society. They saw it as dull, mundane, something to be criticized and changed. Jazz was their music of choice.
The Beats and the poetry that they wrote, more often than not, rejected not only the society of the Fifties, but even the classical format, poets before had used to describe society. Images of Beats, coffee houses, goa-tees, finger snapping, free verse, black clothes, just sitting around, these are some of the images conjured up by the Beats . Often because they attempted to break away from the conventional mold, many have said that their work is difficult to understand. You must listen to the sound of the words they choice to use and realize that their choice, of not following the classical format most poetry had taken before, was one attempt at comment and rejection of their society.
Activity 4 Links:
Activity 4 Directions: Beat Poetry:
After have read a sampling of Beat poetry from the following sites, please create two poems of your own. Remember the Beats addressed issues that were important during their day, nuclear war, suburbia, race relationships, to name but a few. Your job is to create at least two poems representative of society today. (40 Points Possible)
Activity 5: Readings in Popular Literature; a Report / Background: Great literature is often a precursor of things to come, or a commentary upon the society of that day. For example, works such as Ralph Ellison's, Invisible Man, or Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird, offer a portrait of America, unflattering to race relationships. Some works, for example Catcher in the Rye are read by thousands more than would have read the work originally, if the work had not been banned. Jack Kerouac's, On the Road, while not widely read during his time, strongly influenced the generation that came after. The Silent Spring and The Jungle were two pieces of literature that had a direct impact on legislation, which still continue to affect most Americans today. The pieces chosen below represent works were either influential during their time or works that are influential today.
Activity 5 Directions: The Report: Issues you must discuss in your paper: